A Word About Insurance…One Big Convenient Excuse?

I passed my driving test in 1980, the year that Pac-Man was released, the Rubik’s cube became popular and John Lennon was assassinated.  In this year TR7s, Ford Cortinas, Ford Escorts were the  cars of the day.  I passed my test in a navy blue Chrysler Sunbeam (not before I had almost driven my driving instructor to distraction and drink, I might add!). The first car I was insured to drive in was a Ford Cortina – a dark purple monstrosity of a thing, the steering was so heavy I had muscles in my arms that Fatima Whitbread would have been envious of.

In 1982 I got married, Michael Jackson released Thriller, the Mary Rose was raised after 437 year under the sea and the Falkland Islands were invaded.  The purple Cortina made its way to the scrap yard and was replaced by a little cream Talbot Avenger.

Time marched on and in 1985, the year that the hole in the ozone layer was discovered and there was famine in Ethiopa, I gave birth to my first child.     We brought our daughter home from hospital in  dark blue Peugeot 205.  I’d had a ticket to see Bruce Springsteen that year and couldn’t go due to being with child!

In 1989, the Berlin Wall fell, The Bangles had a number one with Eternal Flame and I gave birth to a son.  He was brought home in a silver grey Peugeot 405.

In 1990, the year that Nelson Mandela was finally freed, England were knocked out of the world cup (again) and John Barnes rapped his way through the brilliant World in Motion, I bought a petrol blue Ford Fiesta and started working part time for a small law firm.

In 1995 I changed my blue Ford Fiesta for a white one, and became mildly irritated with the music charts, insofar as the likes of Robson and Jerome had hits!   Zimbabwe experienced their 1st Test Cricket victory, over Pakistan by an inning and I left my old firm to work for a larger law firm.

In 2000 I was driving around in a Peugeot 206 Cabriolet (I loved that car!), Tiger Woods won the US Open by 15 shots, Santana and Rob Thomas sang Smooth and looking back on the 20 years since I passed my driving test, my insurance premiums had NEVER GONE DOWN.  Ever.  Not one single insurance company had ever contacted me at renewal date and said “You know what Gill, we’ve had such a good year that this year we are knocking a tenner off your insurance”.  And that was across all insurance, cars, buildings, contents, pet, my insurance has never gone down – unless of course I have shopped around and managed to find a cheaper deal elsewhere.

So, enough of this timeline then – let us turn to the present date.    Here we are in 2012 and has my insurance gone down in the past 12 years?   Well, the answer is no.  It has continued to increase and don’t even get me started on the amount of insurance that my son who is under 25 has to pay.

We are led to believe that the reason insurance is so expensive is due to the alleged ‘claim culture’ that is supposed to exist in this country.   Yet, if we go back to the 1980s when I started driving the “claim culture” surely did not exist?   I had a crash on my 21st birthday, I ached for months afterwards yet all I was bothered about was getting my car back on the road, it didn’t enter my head that I could have made a claim for my injury – yet still (and despite no “claim” being made) my premiums continued to rise.    So, is it true – have premiums continued to rise because of the number of claims over the years?  Or is it all one big convenient excuse?

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